Fire and Ice

Miss Me?

"Nashi you look. . . amazing!" Mira said taking a step back to take in her master piece.

I was standing on a stool in the center of my room, up so Mira could adjust the last few things on my dress and make up.

"Thanks." I mumbled, looking down at Mira's work.

The red dress, my mother picked out for me, fit quiet nicely. Well, besides the fact I was being strangled by a corset that is.

Mira once again tied my hair into a prefect sized bun with my regular bangs hanging on my forehead. I picked up the mysterious white rose and tucked in my hair at the bun.

"Is Norman coming to get me, Mira?" I asked stepping down from the wooden stool.

"Yes, he should be here any minute. Here is your mask." She gently said handing me a red mask with feathers on one side.

"Thank you."

I went over to the large mirror on the wall in the back of my chambers. Mira did a really good job. I quite like how I looked, even though I wasn't really fond of fancy dresses this one was okay! I put the red mask on and continued to look at my appearance.

All of a sudden I heard a knock on the door.

"Enter." Mira says from the other side of the room.
The door handle turned, the door opened, and there was Norman.

Norman was wearing a dark brown vest, meant for special occasions and black suiter pants. A white cravat was tucked into a nice scarlet red shirt, complimenting his ruffled white sleeves. A black rose sat in his vest pocket which nicely matched his clean black dress shoes, fitted on long white stockings that went up just below the knees.

"Wow Nashi. . . you look. . ." He said with wide eyes as he stared at me from the other side of the room.

"Thank you." I hummed before he could finish. I walked over to the door and put my arm in his.

"I'll be down soon you two." Mira called from behind us, holding her beautiful blue dress.

"Oh yes, and thank you so much Mira!" I called after her, exiting the room.

I saw her flash a smile before the door was closed.

We were off.

Norman and I were now arm in arm walking down the long pale hallways down to the ball room. I'm glad Norman was taking me because I have no idea where we were going.

"What a pretty rose."

I look to see Norman looking at my hair.
He must be talking about the white rose I placed in my hair earlier.

"Thanks, Norman."

"Did you get it from one of the gardens or. . .?" He started to say.

"No I actually found it tied to my door handle by a small blue ribbon."

"Really? How interesting."

"I'm assuming since you've never seen it that you weren't the one that left it for me."

"Oh no. . . do you not know who gave it too you?" He questioned.

"No I don't. There was no note or anything with it when I found it." I said gently touching the rose in my hair.

"How strange. Well if I hear anything around the castle about it I'll tell you." Norman said with a smile.

I look at Norman as we silently walked down a set of stairs to the second floor. He looked sad, like he was upset about something.

"What's wrong?" I asked as we reacted the end of the steps.

He looked at me instantly changing his sad face to a smiling one. . . a fake smiling one.

"Oh nothing." He said with a airy sigh, still with the same smile across his face.

"Norman." I grumbled in a concerned yet stern way.

He deeply sighed and then quickly muttered,
"It's just that. . . I'll miss you."

"Miss me?"

He went silent for a minute. He just looked at the ground with the same sorrowful expression as before.

What was so upsetting? Miss me? I don't understand. I'm not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere. . . is he?

I waited for a response. Patiently looking at him from the side. The only sound to be heard was our shoes clicking against the hard wood floor.

"I just don't know. . . the next time I'll see you again." He finally spoke but in an awkward tone, still with sorrow in his voice.

We went quiet for a minute before I broke the silence by saying,
"That ball isn't that long, Norman."

I smiled at him with rosy cheeks. Norman looked into my eyes, he flashed a weak smile and gave a small laugh.

"Yeah that ball. . . short. . . right."  He mumbled bringing his gaze back to his feet.

We were now on the right floor, it was a few minutes before the ball would start.

"I'm surprised I wasn't late for something for once." I chirped at the last few minutes of our walk.

"Yeah." Norman said with a more hopeful smile.